One of the most inspiring leaders I’ve come across in awhile is a mid-level manager that refuses to read the memo that says you cannot make a difference unless you have a big title and corresponding office.

I ran across "Jane" recently in a workshop, and after listening to some of her answers to questions and examples, I made it a point to talk with her during a break.  I was fascinated to find such a thoughtful, practical and committed leader and asked if I could pass along my observations in my blog.  She seemed surprised that anyone would find her leadership style interesting, but was agreeable to me sharing her approaches as long as I kept her name confidential.  Here are the highlights:

"Jane" works for a mid-sized, fairly well known company that is in the news for some of the wrong reasons.  She describes the overall environment as "chaotic and unorganized."  I asked about the values of the organization and her answer was "they seem to have been suspended."  Given the troubles, turnover is high, morale low and in her words, "top leadership has gone into one endless closed-door meeting."  I asked how her team is holding up with all of the turbulence and the tone of the conversation took a 180-degree turn.  (Note: Jane leads a technology development function.)

I paraphrase: We’re actually doing great.  My team has remained immune to the "exit bug" and my top performers are actually gaining more and more responsibility and authority, because they are performing and producing.  The stars that have been working with me are the ones being tapped to head up major initiatives as the company is working to turn itself around.

When I asked about some of the things that she thinks that she has done right as a leader during this crisis, I elicit a response that clearly tells me Jane doesn’t view "herself" as the subject or the reason why things have gone right.  She does share some of her management practices.  Again, I paraphrase:

  • On attitude and maintaining morale: When times are good, we didn’t walk around with smiles on our faces, satisfied that we had done our jobs.  We worked harder because we recognized that the situation can change overnight.  Now that the company is struggling, we’re not walking around with frowns and acting depressed.  The tone that we try and maintain is that the best performers are at their best when the situation is tough.  We feel like we can make a difference in pulling the company out of this situation, and everyone shows up to work looking to make that difference.
  • On retention:  Crisis creates opportunities.  The fact that our best people are being handpicked to lead other teams and contribute to solving the problems on a bigger scale is all of the retention incentive that we need.  We’ll turn this around and my team members will be leading a major portion of the company going forward.
  • On communication: This company has historically not encouraged people to speak up about the tough issues.  Instead of rewarding individuals that are willing to tell someone that their baby is ugly, we tended to act collegial and ignore the real issues.  I’ve tried to do the opposite with my team by encouraging them to tactfully raise the right issues and solutions.  We figured out how to do this pretty effectively with each other and now we’ve infected other teams and functions with the "straight talk" approach. 
  • On selecting talent: Right or wrong, I look hard at a person’s character, experiences, interests and overall intellectual horsepower.  Most people in my role hire specifically for skills and I hire for the person. 
  • On dealing with an isolated senior leadership team:  On a daily basis I don’t spend much time thinking about them.  The work of the company is done below the top leadership level, and unfortunately, part of our strategy is not waiting for a decision from the top to act.  A lot of what we need to do is crystal clear, so there is no reason to ask permission to do our jobs.  On an informal basis, I do seek out opportunities to keep our executives informed of progress and issues, and to their credit, they’ve been responsive every time we’ve asked for resources or to confirm a priority call.  I try and give them what they need to do their jobs.


The bottom-line: 

"Jane" is a senior leader exerting broad influence on a firm while sitting smack in the middle of the organization chart.  She’s a testament to the power of maintaining the right attitude on all fronts, and she clearly has learned several of the most valuable lessons of leadership: select great people, deal with them openly and honestly, provide opportunities and challenges and let them do what they do best.  I’m betting that this company will turn-around, and I’m betting Jane will not be in the middle for much longer.